RE: video selection policy

We do buy all the Oscar winners. I do agree they are not the "best" films of
the year (I still think The Sixth Sense got ripped off!) BUT, patrons ask
for this list all the time. We even keep a complete Oscar list at the desk.
We also buy the best Foreign Films etc.
If you need to build up your collection with "Best of lists" that is not a
bad idea at all. If that is the only thing you can buy I'd start worrying
about the circulation figures dropping. Quickly. rofl
Regards,
Carol Dunn
AV Librarian, NT Administrator and Webmaster
Findlay-Hancock County Public Library
206 Broadway
Findlay, Ohio 45840
419.422.1712 Ext. 217

I agree, the "Oscar" winners is not the best criteria for choosing the
"best" films, because some years, such as 1939, were better than, say, 1963.
If, however, your director wants some objective way of choosing classic
films, then you can use the AFI 100 list, instead. IMHO, it's a much better
indicator, even though there's much debate over that list, too.

As to policy, we buy what our patrons say they NEED, be it #1 on the AFI
list, or something that I wouldn't be caught dead watching!

LeeAnne Krause
U. of South Carolina Film Library

>>> edruda@suffolk.lib.ny.us 06/30/00 12:27PM >>>
Does anyone have one written out somewhere?

Here's why I ask: my director wants only "major award winning films." This
is probably one of the dumbest criteria for selecting movies and I would
like some literature to help me make my case. Everytime I think about it I
get mad.